Leicester man tracks wife's stolen laptop

Thursday

Nov 22, 2012 at 6:00 AMNov 22, 2012 at 2:24 PM

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The photographs Mina Thabet posted on his Facebook page late Tuesday night weren't of family or friends having fun — they were of two strangers police suspect might be involved in the theft of dozens of items from his Leicester home.

Mr. Thabet said he came home Tuesday evening and found his house “trashed.” His wife's laptop, jewelry and the couple's PS3 and Wii game stations were gone.

As police were gathering evidence inside the home, Mr. Thabet logged on to his laptop and used a $2 computer application (app for short) he'd installed on his wife's Mac laptop.

“I kept my laptop on and turned on her camera remotely. Pretty soon, they logged on,” he said of two men who at that time had possession of the stolen laptop. “I was trying to think quickly and I just kept taking screen shots while they were looking up the price of the computer” on Google.

The program also allowed Mr. Thabet to tell police where the laptop was, right down to the street in Worcester where the suspects appeared to be sitting in a vehicle.

Leicester police called Worcester police, who quickly went to the address, matched a man to the photograph and questioned him.

Leicester Chief James J. Hurley said that man, and a second man in the photograph, remain persons of interest in the case.

Mr. Thabet said the computer was turned on once more before he used the app to lock it and protect his wife's personal information.

The speed at which Mr. Thabet was able to gather information was helpful to police who, Chief Hurley said, may have had to negotiate a “legal labyrinth” to access some of what they learned from Mr. Thabet.

While he declined to discuss specifics of the case, the chief said he would encourage anyone who uses costly technology to employ any means they can to protect their investments. Many of the methods aren't very expensive and can prove invaluable.

Technology is changing rapidly and costly training for police is often less available given tight budgets and fiscal constraints, the chief said. So it is helpful to police when people use what's available to avoid becoming crime victims or to help solve crimes if they are victimized.

“The technology and (Mr. Thabet's) ability to use it were impressive,” Chief Hurley said.

The app Mr. Thabet used is called Splashtop and it allows him to take over his wife's computer remotely from another computer, he explained.

“I set it up so if she has trouble with it (the laptop) and I'm at work, I can help her,” he said, adding that he's done the same for his parents who live out of state.

After the incident Tuesday, he discovered preyproject.com and installed that program on all the devices he uses. The free downloads available at the website allow computer and smartphone users to track their devices using GPS.

They can set off an audible alarm if the device is stolen and can set it to begin taking photographs that might show the thieves or backgrounds that reveal clues about who may have the computer.

Other features allow the owner to display a message on the screen indicating the computer is stolen.

For Chief Hurley's investigators, the effort by the victim moved the case forward more quickly. “We're close to solving this, but we wouldn't be there without the technology,” he said.

And Mr. Thabet also used technology to enlist the help of his friends in solving the crime.

He posted the images on his Facebook page and asked friends to share them which, as of last night, more than 60 had done.

He said he's realistic about the possibility that he may never see the laptop or his expensive digital camera again, but he's more hopeful that he might have been without the technology.

Chief Hurley said at this point in the investigation he would not release the images Mr. Thabet took but did say investigators are trying to identify the man depicted in the back of the photograph wearing a baseball style cap.

He urged anyone who recognized the man to call Leicester police at (508) 892-7010.

Mr. Thabet said the technology he used was not difficult to work with.

While he considers himself “computer savvy” he believes anyone with basic computer knowledge could do what he did — except maybe the men in the photos who seemed oblivious as he snapped away capturing at least nine images.

Chief Hurley said officers in Leicester have seen similar techniques used by crime victims. One used a tracking program to locate a stolen iPod worth a few hundred dollars.

Police pinpointed an address and were able to return the iPod to its owner.

It's a lesson for would-be thieves who might think they've made a clean getaway.